Sunday, December 4, 2011

A thank you


A letter to Buck and Eleanor Barber (Lighthouse volunteers, 10 years of service),  from a mom of a child with cancer:

We would just love for Buck and Eleanor to know how thankful we are for their work with this outstanding organization that is truly ministering and serving families dealing with childhood cancer.  No one can understand the grief and loss we feel for our precious children being attacked by cancer, it is the worst of the worst situations for any parent.  There are so many organizations who give a teddy bear, or a toy to the "cancer child" and though we have had our share of these "teddy bears" and "toys", only the Lighthouse Family Retreat truly helps the entire family through what it is a families worst nightmare.  Your love and care for the wonderful siblings of these cancer kids is so meaningful to us as parents.  We must shuffle our non cancer patient children to the back of everything and the love that is showered on them at the Lighthouse is wonderful and comes straight from the heart of God.  Most importantly the time spent with the parents in "Common Ground" is so important to us as parents.  We are devastated inside, we are grief stricken and live in fear and no matter how many times I hear some good meaning person say "give the worry over to God", that person has never had a child with cancer.  The anxiety and stress it drives into our lives is horrendous and we will truly NEVER be the same.  In our case, our son's life has been dramatically altered and therefore so has ours and that of our younger son.  We want to thank you so much for spending your time ministering and listening to parents of kids with cancer, we can't pay for our own therapy in the financial stress we live under paying for treatment and prosthetics, we can't make time for it in the midst of all the overhwhelming medical news and shock, and we can't make it a priority when the priority is to fight with all we have to try and save our child (children), for these reasons we are so very grateful for the leadership in the common ground time.  We can cry, shake, be overwhelmed, be desperate and just be heard and let our guard down for a few minutes.  We are so grateful to Buck and Eleanor that they have chosen to do the work of God with these precious families, battling a huge beast that noone can understand.  I remember Eleanor making a statement that their friends " don't understand why they do their thing all summer" (referencing their work at the Lighthouse all summer, every summer), but she just smiled and said, "It's what we do".  We for one, are a family that is so thankful for this wonderful organization that is lead by people so driven to help, not afraid to dive deep into the fear and grief that we are suffering and offer hope and a smile and to just be there for us and take the load off even if just for a few minutes.  We are forever grateful for the Lighthouse, but we know what makes the Lighthouse is the leadership of special people that see a horrendous need of suffering and pain in families of childhood cancer families and yet they stand, they take action and they say, I can help, I can make life better for someone else, even if just for a week, I can and will do it.  We are blessed to be a part of the Lighthouse family. 

Friday, August 5, 2011

Wrapping up a wonderful summer season at Lighthouse

Here at Lighthouse, we love to take morning watch out to the beach when we can. There's something magnificent about staring into the ocean to gain a glimpse of the Creator. Today, Brett shared the truth that God wants us to know Him, while we were able to dig our toes in the sand and watch the waves roll in. 

 Many connections have been made, and half of our families are in a very challenging place right now. We pray that these families have seen God's love for them by hearing the truths that we share at morning watch, by safely sharing their journey in their time at Common Ground , and by witnessing our volunteers with servant hearts.







Our pool party is about to begin. We will have pizza, a few games, some dancing, and watch the slideshow with some of the pictures from the week.  It is sad to see this retreat come to an end.   We are very thankful for all of the families that God has healed this summer at Lighthouse. Thanks to everyone who made this summer possible. Until the fall!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Today brought the HEAT!

Today was another HOT day, with the heat index reaching 113! During flip-flop, we practiced for our talent show tonight, and the little girls had a surprise spa morning!  Tonight was our luau and talent show. Brett and DJ Matty-Ice brought a GREAT show with so many amazing acts.  After the show, we all danced and celebrated the joy that everyone has found this week! Here is a sneak peek into the show!






Wednesday, August 3, 2011

It's HOT!

The heat index has been over 100 every day here at Retreat 9!  Even tonight at movie night, we were sweating under the tent with 2 big fans blowing on us as the sun was going down! Tonight, the parents went out to dinner in Seaside while the children enjoyed a movie and ice cream party! Here are a few pictures, including some from our special Italian night, and tonight.








Tuesday, August 2, 2011

First full day of Retreat 9!

Yesterday, our families arrived at the Lighthouse! It began storming right after check in, and cleared up just in time for Mexican night! It was a beautiful night because it wasn't extremely hot!

Today was the first day of Common Ground and flip-flop. The children had a blast at the pool! Right now, our wonderful volunteers are preparing for our special Italian dinner tonight! Please pray that God continues to work through Retreat 9!









Monday, August 1, 2011

Starting the last summer retreat!

On Saturday, we said our "See ya later's" to all of the 180 wonderful people who came to Retreat 8. Yesterday, our volunteers for Retreat 9 arrived, and now we are preparing for the retreat families to arrive soon! This is our fourth week in a row in Gulf Place. We have never done a retreat this first week of August, so a lot of our volunteers and families are new! We love the energy and ideas that new volunteers bring. We cannot wait to meet the families that will arrive today! The final summer retreat of 2011 is off to a great start!

Friday, July 29, 2011

Retreat EIGHT: Off to a GREAT Start!

Gulf Place welcomes TWELVE wonderful families to Lighthouse's eighth retreat of Summer 2011! We also have a "small" group from Northpoint Community Church here to volunteer and bring a LARGE amount of energy to our flip-flop groups and dance parties! We have some talented dancers this week, so we can't wait for the weekly Talent Show!

Here are some pictures from our first few days:








We have had some storms this week, causing some technical difficulties, but the Lighthouse fun prevails over the rain! The Sharks initiated an intense "Skins vs. Shirts" football game Monday, Tuesday we got to decorate cupcakes, and today we had a relaxing "Baby Spa" with nail painting and massages!


Last night the kids enjoyed the famous ice cream sundae bar and movie style popcorn, while the parents went out to dinner! More updates to come--have to run off to the Luau and Talent Show!!!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Sending off summer, and summer staff

Here at Lighthouse, we love our summer staff! They add so much energy, excitement, and creativity to the ministry, mostly behind the scenes. No two days of their summer looked alike. They work in the office for a few weeks, and help with the retreats for a few weeks. As they leave us and go back to school, we are sad but grateful for all they have done for us.
Here is a video of their dance at the retreat 6 talent show, choreographed by Kiley.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jg_LIYKklU

Here are some of the photos of our beautiful summer staffers:












Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Midweek Check In

Where has the first half of the week gone??? We have truly had a fantastic and fun week here at Lighthouse. Tonight, the parents went out on a date night while the family partners brought the children for an ice cream party and outdoor movie. Here are a few pictures from the day!


Limbo Limbo Limbo!


Blowfish -- hoorah!

Party bike!!



Enjoying some ice cream